Hermes Agent Tutorial 5: CLI and TUI — Terminal Interface Complete Guide

Tutorial Overview

Series index: Hermes Agent Tutorial Series

This tutorial covers Hermes Agent’s Terminal Interface — the CLI commands and TUI features for users who prefer terminal interaction.

Note: If you deployed Hermes via Messaging Gateway (Tutorial 4), this article provides terminal basics. If you’re here for terminal-only usage, this is your primary interface guide.

What you will learn

✅ CLI entry points and their purposes
✅ TUI features: multiline editing, autocomplete, history
✅ Key slash commands and their usage
✅ Personalities system for different contexts
✅ Session management and persistence

CLI Entry Points

Main commands

Hermes provides several CLI commands for different purposes:

Command	Purpose	Usage
`hermes`	Interactive TUI	Start conversation
`hermes gateway`	Messaging gateway	Deploy to platforms
`hermes model`	Model management	Switch providers
`hermes setup`	Configuration wizard	Initial setup
`hermes config`	Settings management	View/edit config
`hermes skills`	Skills management	List/create skills
`hermes memory`	Memory management	View/export memory
`hermes doctor`	Diagnostics	Troubleshoot issues

Command flow

flowchart TD
    A[hermes] --> B[Interactive TUI]
    C[hermes gateway] --> D[Platform daemon]
    E[hermes model] --> F[Provider switch]
    G[hermes setup] --> H[Config wizard]
    I[hermes doctor] --> J[Health check]

    style B fill:#e1f5ff
    style D fill:#fff3e0

TUI Features

Terminal User Interface

When you run hermes, you get a full TUI with:

flowchart LR
    subgraph TUI
        A[Header: Model + Usage]
        B[Conversation area]
        C[Input box]
        D[Status line]
    end

    style A fill:#e8f5e9
    style B fill:#e1f5ff

Multiline editing

Press Ctrl+J or Alt+Enter to create newlines in your message:

You: I need to create a function that:
1. Validates input
2. Processes data
3. Returns result

[Ctrl+J for new line]

Autocomplete

Hermes provides autocomplete for:

Slash commands: Type / and press Tab
Model names: /model + Tab
Skills: /skill + Tab

Ctrl+P / Ctrl+N: Previous/Next message
Ctrl+R: Search history
↑ / ↓: Arrow keys also work

Interrupt handling

Ctrl+C: Interrupt current response
Send new message: Redirects agent mid-task
/stop: Graceful stop command

Key Commands

Essential slash commands

Command	Purpose	Example
`/new`	Fresh conversation	`/new`
`/reset`	Clear context	`/reset`
`/model`	View/change model	`/model openrouter:claude-3`
`/retry`	Regenerate last response	`/retry`
`/undo`	Undo last turn	`/undo`
`/compress`	Compress context	`/compress`
`/usage`	Show token usage	`/usage`
`/insights`	Session analytics	`/insights --days 7`
`/skills`	Browse skills	`/skills`
`/stop`	Interrupt work	`/stop`
`/exit`	Exit Hermes	`/exit`

Model switching

/model                          # View current model
/model openrouter:auto          # Switch to auto-select
/model anthropic:claude-4       # Switch to Claude 4
/model openai:gpt-4o            # Switch to GPT-4o

Memory commands

/memory show                    # View user profile
/memory list                    # List insights
/memory search "api design"     # Search past sessions

Context management

/compress                       # Compress long context
/usage                          # Show current usage
/reset                          # Full context reset

Personalities System

What are personalities?

Personalities are preset configurations for different contexts:

flowchart TD
    A[Base Hermes] --> B[Developer]
    A --> C[Researcher]
    A --> D[Writer]
    A --> E[Assistant]

    style A fill:#e1f5ff

Available personalities

Personality	Focus	Ideal for
`developer`	Code, debugging	Programming tasks
`researcher`	Analysis, synthesis	Literature review
`writer`	Drafts, editing	Content creation
`assistant`	General help	Everyday tasks

Switch personalities

/personality developer
/personality researcher
/personality default

Create custom personality

# Create personality file
nano ~/.hermes/personalities/my-work.md

Format:

---
name: my-work
description: Work-focused assistant
---

## Style
- Professional tone
- Bullet-point summaries
- Action-oriented recommendations

## Preferences
- Focus on actionable output
- Minimize explanation unless asked

Activate:

/personality my-work

Session Management

Session persistence

Hermes automatically saves sessions to:

~/.hermes/sessions/
├── 2026-04-13-001.json
├── 2026-04-13-002.json
└── ...

Session commands

Command	Purpose
`/new`	Start new session
`/resume SESSION`	Resume past session
`/sessions`	List sessions

Resume a session

/sessions                      # List recent sessions
/resume 2026-04-12-003         # Resume specific session

Session search

Find past conversations:

/search "authentication bug"
/search --from 2026-04-01 --to 2026-04-10

Platform-Specific Status

For CLI users

/status                        # Show daemon status
/platforms                     # Show connected platforms

Set home platform (for gateway users)

/sethome telegram              # Telegram as primary
/sethome cli                   # CLI as primary

Configuration

View configuration

hermes config show

Set values

hermes config set model.default "openrouter:auto"
hermes config set memory.nudges.enabled true
hermes config set transcription.provider whisper

Edit config file

nano ~/.hermes/config.yaml

Example config:

model:
  default: openrouter:auto
  fallback: openrouter:claude-3-haiku

memory:
  nudges:
    enabled: true
    interval: 10  # turns

gateway:
  telegram:
    enabled: true
    token: "YOUR_TOKEN"

transcription:
  provider: whisper

Troubleshooting

TUI not starting

Cause: Terminal compatibility issue.

Fix:

# Check terminal type
echo $TERM

# Force basic mode
hermes --mode simple

Commands not working

Cause: Slash command syntax wrong.

Fix: Commands start with / and no arguments need quotes:

/model openrouter:auto    # Correct
/model "openrouter:auto"  # Incorrect

Session not persisting

Cause: Session saving disabled.